Why is the Stair Stepper a Good Workout?

That might lead you to the stair stepper. Is it a good workout or is it a waste of your time?

Here’s what you need to know about why a stair stepper is a good workout.

Why is the Stair Stepper a Good Workout?

The stair stepper is a great workout because it works your entire lower half and improves your posture.

A stair stepper reenacts the process of walking up and down the stairs.

If you’ve ever walked several flights of stairs before, then you know how exhausting it can become.

The stepper mimics this in the comfort of your own home or at a gym. It makes the exercise even more intense by adding in resistance.

You need to work harder to climb the machine.

There are quite a few ways in which the stair stepper offers a good workout. Here are a few of them.

1. It’s Ideal If You’re Suffering from an Injury

If you have an injury that’s keeping you off of certain machines, then you can likely still use the stepper.

It’s low-impact enough that it won’t injure you further. The only injury that should avoid use on the stepper is weak or injured knees.

Those with pre-existing knee problems will make the injury worse since the stepper is hard on the knees.

Other than that, most other injuries can still be worked out with the stepper. This ensures that you can still keep off the weight instead of gaining it back while you recover.

2. Improves Posture

Another great reason that the stepper is great for a workout is that it improves your posture.

A lot of injuries can be avoided if you know how to use the right kind of posture. It can also prevent lower back pain and other chronic pain problems.

The stepper improves your posture by aligning your spine and strengthening your core.

When you walk up and down the stairs, you should be in a straight line over your feet. If you hunch over, then you’re not using all of your strength to climb the stair.

You’re only reinforcing your own bad posture.

The stepper can help you become aware of your posture as you climb stairs. It uses safety handrails that you grab onto.

These handrails are not meant for support so you can hunch over them. They’re just there to hold onto to ensure you don’t fall.

However, you can also use them to determine if you’re using the correct posture while using the stepper.

If you’re not hunching over or leaning against the handrails, then you know that you’re using the right posture.

With the right posture in place, you can start to work on strengthening it. Over time, you’ll have enough strength to maintain a good posture when you climb the stairs for real.

Using good posture will decrease your back pain and improve the muscles in your glutes.

3. Great at Burning Fat

If you want to lose weight, then using the stepper is the exercise machine to use. It helps you burn calories because it targets large muscles in your body.

When you work out large muscles, it impacts your metabolism. The muscles make the metabolism stronger and more efficient.

One of the ways that you can increase how much weight you lose is to adopt interval training with the stepper.

Interval training means you do a certain number of stair climbs in a given time before switching to something else.

It’s designed to help you push yourself as hard as you can for a set amount of time before recovering.

The idea is to shock your system into suddenly burning more calories to make up for the sudden loss of energy.

This type of workout works wells if you can use different exercises and machines to keep shocking your body.

The stepper is an ideal choice because you can easily increase the speed and intensity of the workout.

It combines both lower-body strengthening with workouts designed to boost your cardiovascular system.

4. Build Muscle

The final reason the stepper is a good workout is that it helps you build muscle. In particular, stair steppers focus on building muscle in your glutes, quads, hamstrings, and core.

However, it takes a bit of knowledge and training to get the most out of the stepper.

The key is understanding where to place your feet. If you want to focus on building the muscles in your glutes and hamstrings, then you need to place the bulk of your weight on the heels of your feet.

Climb the stairs with your heels in mind to really work those areas.

You should switch to the balls of your feet if you want to increase the muscle in your quads.

You can increase muscle in your legs, in general, by skipping a step. This forces your body to use more strength to reach the next step.

What Does the Stair Stepper Do To Your Body?

The stepper works a series of muscles in your lower body. Here are some of those muscles and how they can impact your overall health.

1. Glutes

One of the most important areas that the stepper exercises are your glutes. It doesn’t just work one part of your glutes either. It works the entire muscle.

This is important because it helps to tone your butt. Considering modern lifestyles, you’re likely not receiving enough of a workout in that area.

Although you may think that you only use the glute muscles for sitting, that isn’t the case. It’s more important than just being a cushion.

It helps you sit and stand. It provides support for your other muscles.

Without working it, your butt will also look saggy and dead.

The problem with a lot of other exercises is that they target the front of the glutes. Few actually target the glutes, themselves. The stepper does.

2. Hamstrings

Another area that the stepper targets are your hamstrings. These are the muscles that make up the back of the knee area.

They also extend up to your hip. They’re responsible for helping your knee bend and the extension of your leg.

The problem is that hamstrings are easy to injure. Because they’re responsible for extension and pulling, they’re among the most fragile muscles in the body.

This is especially true because few people work them out as they should. They’re often treated as an afterthought.

A stepper can help strengthen your hamstrings. When you have stronger hamstrings, you can perform other exercises and sports with more confidence.

Because you took the time to hone them, you’re less at risk of developing an injury.

3. Quadriceps

Another important muscle in your leg is a series of muscles called the quadriceps. It’s a series of four muscles that are nestled close to one another.

They’re responsible for actions like sitting, standing, running, and general movement. They even help support your kneecap.

Weak quadriceps are serious problems. You may be unable to stand up from a sitting or lying position.

It can make walking around difficult. With a lack of support for your kneecap, the knee joint can also face problems. It might start to weaken and cause knee problems.

Using a stepper can strengthen your quadriceps. It targets these four muscles because they’re required for climbing steps.

They help push the body upwards. If you keep using the stepper and climb a series of stairs, then your quadriceps strengthen.

Not only is the strengthening noticeable, but you’ll feel it, too. Getting up will be easier. You’ll find it easier to run or walk.

Even your speed may increase since you have more strength to push off from.

You’ll also have less of a chance of suffering from a knee injury because the quadriceps can support your kneecap better.

The stepper impacts your quadriceps in a big way.

4. Hip Flexors

Your hip flexors are responsible for critical movements like walking, running, stepping, and swiveling.

They’re a series of muscles that are located on your thighs near the top. Injuring them can be easy if you turn too sharply or suddenly.

They’re a delicate series of muscles.

When you tear your hip flexors, you will find walking, stepping, and even just general looking around to be more difficult.

Because they help control the movement of your hips, any kind of movement can become painful.

Using the stair stepper can help.

It targets hip flexors and strengthens them. With stronger hip flexors, you can turn and step and run with ease.

The primary reason why the stepper is ideal for exercising the hip flexors is because of the act of stepping.

Since your hip flexors play a critical role in the stepping movement, they’re naturally strengthened the more that you do it.

With stronger hip flexors, you can reduce the chances of injury by walking or running and stopping suddenly. Or by turning with your hips to the side suddenly.

5. Calves

One of the most stubborn muscles in the body is the calves. They take up space in your lower leg.

They’re responsible for supporting your body. When you climb stairs or run uphill, you likely experienced burning in your calves before. That’s them at work.

They’re actively trying to keep you upright and steady. They also help you perform actions like jumping, bending, and turning. If you let your calves become weak, then you may find that it’s difficult to stay steady.

You may trip more often or even fall down in the presence of an incline, decline, or a sudden turn. That’s because your calves are too weak to support the rest of your body.

They also support your ankles. If you have weak calves, then you may sprain your ankle more often.

A stepper vastly improves your calf muscles. Through stair climbing, you can build the calf muscle and make them stronger than ever.

Not only will they look stronger, but you’ll notice that it’s easier to run or walk uphill, too.

One of the best aspects of strengthening your calves is reducing the number of sprained ankles that you receive.

A sprained ankle can completely take you out of the sport or gym to recover. By strengthening your calves with a stepper, you can improve the performance of the rest of your body.

6. Abdominal Muscles

One final group of muscles that a stepper impact is your abdominal muscles. These muscles rest in your stomach area and have several purposes.

One of the most important is that it applies enough pressure for your organs to move around and stay in place.

It also supports the rest of your torso. By working with the muscles in your back, abdominal muscles are responsible for supporting the body and keeping you stable. Finally, they help to support your spine.

Weak abdominal muscles make your posture fail. This can impact how well the rest of your body feels. It can give you back pain, headaches, and cause other problems.

The stepper can target the abs if you concentrate and hold your core while you’re performing the exercise.

This is when using the right posture is so important. By using the right posture, you strengthen your abs with every step.

With stronger abdominal muscles, you not only develop a six-pack, but you also have a better ability to maintain excellent posture and support your body.

Final Thoughts

Using a stair stepper has more benefits than you may realize. It targets crucial muscles in your body that impact your quality of life and ability to move.

Working out on a stair climber is ideal because you can use it with interval training or even find new ways of making the exercise more enjoyable and interesting.

Buy a stair climber for your home or visit your local gym to see the benefits of using one for yourself.